Asean round-up

Malaysia’s Armed Forces Fund Board will pay the highest dividend in its history after posting its best ever results.

The fund – Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) – has declared a 16% dividend with a record RM759.3 million (S$305 million) payout for its financial year ended 2012, reported Malaysia’s Business Times.

LTAT posted a record income of RM907.4 million last year, up 5.5% from the previous year, and targets earnings to breach RM1 billion this year.

Two-thirds of the Prudential’s outperformance can be explained by its extraordinary rate of growth in Asia – the profits and cash from the regon are turning out better, and arriving more quickly, than expectedhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2013/mar/13/asia-growth-prudential. In Asean, Pru is big in S’pore and M’sia, and expanding in Indonesia. I think it bot something last yr in Thailand. Unlike S’pore, there is ample room to expand life insc coverage in the other three countries.

BTW, the UK-based insurer that is big in Asia is headed by an African. It’s a globalised world.